Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Post from the Past: A Time to Cry and a Time to Laugh

This post was originally published in October 2011, but it demonstrates a skill of which I am reasonably proud. Also, it's useful. Read on.

I cry fairly readily. And sometimes, it's just not the thing. Fortunately for me, Steve taught me that you can sing Amazing Grace to the tune of the Gilligan's Island theme song. Seriously! And the really cool thing about THAT is that you can use it to stop crying.

Basically, it takes so much brain power to mash the two together that you are completely distracted from most things you might cry about.

Here, I'll show you how the song goes.

See? It's also just funny. I suspect that the not-crying part is because it uses both halves of your brain. Melody is processed (according to Wikipedia) in the right secondary auditory cortex, but my understanding is that language is largely a function of the left hemisphere. In this case, we are taking words that have previously been merged with one tune (and a particular emotional context) and are transforming them into a completely different form.

And, you can even just do it in your head. I've done it. I've also simply sung the uno dos tres from Sesame Street. It takes just enough brain power to calm me down.

Just, you know, don't do it out loud.

P.S. I do have other musical tips and tricks, but I don't think I'll be challenging Beyoncé any time soon, so don't worry.